Sash stopper and fastener



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.A

JAMES D. SMITH, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

SASH STOPPER AND FASTEN/KER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 9,348, dated October 19, 1852.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES D. SMITH, of

the town of New Britain, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sash-Holders; and 1l do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference be ing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference thereon, making a part of this speciication, in which- Figure l, is a perspective view of the holder as designed for the lower sash of a window; Fig. 2, a perspective view o-f the holder as designed for the upper sash of a window; Fig. 3, a perspective view of the inner side of the holder as designed for the upper sash, showing the construction and combination of the plate, shaft and spring.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

My sash-holder consists of four parts, a plate (a), a shaft (b, Fig. 3) with lip (f) attached, a thumb-piece (c), and a winding spiral spring (d, Fig. 3). These several parts, with the exception of the spring, may be made of brass, iron or other suitable material, and may be either cast or wrought.

It will be found most advantageous to stamp the plate (La) and thumb-piece (0,) from sheet iron or brass by any of the usual methods of stamping metal. These, as well as the other parts of the holder, maybe made of any desirable size, according to the size of th`e window, to which the holder is to be attached. Any desired form may be given to the plate which is also made with a bearing (m) at each end projecting inward at. right angles to the body of the plate, in which bearings the ends of the shaft (1),) rest and play. y

An aperture (ya) of sulicient size to admit the lip (f,) of the shaft to play in should be made, and the plate provided with two or more holes (s, 8,) through which it may be fastened to the window casing by screws. The plate of the holder for the upper sash, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3, is made of such length that when fastened in the window casing, the thumbpiece will be on a line with the thumb-piece of the lower sash holder.

The shaft (29,) may be cast of brass, iron or other suitable metal' in any usual way, corresponding in length to that of the plate, as seen in Fig. 3; the shank being round for the spiral spring to encircle, and the lip (f,) of a size and strength corresponding to the window to which it is to be applied. In the case of the lower sash-holder, I make the exterior edge of the lip of the shaft, which presses against the window, at right angles or nearly at right angles to t-he body of the lip, as seen in Fig. l; so thatwhen the lower sash of .the window is closed, this'edge thus inclined will prevent `the wiudow from being raised without first pressing on the spring.

The thumb-piece (0,) may be made in the usual way and of the usual shape, and at.- tached in any convenient way to the shaft which for this purpose passes through the bearing of the plate at its outer end.

The spirals ring (d,) the application of which to the otlier parts of the sash holder as herein described constitutes the gist of my improvement, may be made of any suitable wire. One end of the wire I attach to one of the bearings of the plate, and the other end tothe lip of the shaft, the whole encircling or winding about the shank of the shaft, as seen in Fig. 3. In the case of the upper sash holder I attach the spring between the lip and the outer end of the shaft, as seen in Fig. 3; but in the case of the lower sash holder I attach the spring between the lip and the inner end of the shaft, and for that purpose the plate is somewhat elongated at' the end opposite that to which the thumbpiece is attached, as seen in Fig. 1. The spring attached as above described will by it-s tension force the lip of the shaft forward through the aperture in the plate, as represented in the figures, and notches being made in the window sashes at any deslred distance apart corresponding in shape to the edge of the lip of the shaft, whenever any one of these notches by the raising or lowering of the sash is brought opposite to the lip of the shaft the latter will by the force of the spring be thro-wn into the former and the sash thus be held at any desired height. When the sash is to be raised or lowered, the thumb-piece is to be pressed, by which means the lip of the shaft is thrown up allowing the sash to move unobstructed; and when the power is removed the force of t-he spring will throw the lip forward again into the notch brought opposite to it. It will be seen that my spring in its application diifers materially fromthc ordinary spiral spring, the latter operating by being compressed while mine operates by being wound. I thus gain two advantages, viz, increased power, and (when necessary) operation in a small space, as only two or three windings of the wire are required and no appreciable Space between the windings. I also gain another advantage, viz, durability.

The sash-holders may be attached to the window casing b-y screws or nails passing through the holes (s, 3,) made for that purpose in the plate, the lower holder being placed opposite one of the upper corners of the lower sash, and the upper holder opposite one of the lower corners of the upper sash. Instead however of the two holders being made separate, they may be att-ached to the saine plate, and in some cases this may be desirable. My sash-holder may be attached to blinds and other objects which require raising or lowering and to be secured at any desired height.

What I claim as niy invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The construction of a window or sashstopper operated by a winding spiral spring, the whole arranged and coin ined substantially as herein described.

New Britain September 22d A. D. 1852.

v l JAMES D. SMITH.

In. presence of- WM. G. COE, S. E. CASE. 

